Palm Beach police: Babysitter unknowingly eats pot cookies, calls 911

Eleanor Roy

Wednesday

Jan 25, 2017 at 12:01 AMJan 25, 2017 at 2:39 PM

A Palm Beach babysitter who police said unknowingly ate chocolate chip cookies laced with marijuana ended up in the hospital last week after she called 911 and told officers she thought she was dying from a brain tumor.

A police report documented the incident that unfolded at a Midtown home late Jan. 18 when Palm Beach Fire-Rescue received a 911 call for a medical emergency.

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The babysitter — whose name the Daily News is withholding — was watching two children when she ate some cookies she found in the refrigerator. According to the report, she started feeling sick about 30 minutes later.

Officer Dean Morea arrived at the scene at 9:47 p.m.

"[The victim] was hallucinating and was stating that she felt like she was going to die and that she thinks she may have a brain tumor," Morea wrote in the report. "[The victim] continuously asked us if she was going to die and to pray for her."

Paramedics wanted to commit the babysitter under the Baker Act, but Morea recognized the victim’s symptoms as drug-related and urged them to wait, the report said. When he spoke with the two children, they told Morea that they thought the cookies belonged to their mother and that they only eat store-bought cookies.

The report stated a field test revealed that the cookies had THC — the active chemical in marijuana — in them. The babysitter was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center for treatment.

When Morea spoke to the children’s mother, she said she never saw the cookies before, according to the report. Morea told her that her children said they thought the cookies belonged to her.

"[The mother] responded by shrugging her shoulders and denying all allegations," the report said.

No one was charged, but the Department of Children and Families was notified of the incident because the children had access to the cookies, according to the report.

The cookies, which weighed 102.2 grams, were submitted into evidence for investigation. The case was ongoing Tuesday.